| SIMPLE HOMEMADE CHARCUTERIE |
The term “charcuterie” doesn’t get tossed around much in these parts. But the ageold culinary art is widely practiced in this place where hunting is a rite of passage and so many own cattle. Each fall and winter, people grind meat trim into sausage and dehydrate lean roasts for jerky. Some salt cure and some smoke. When I started asking locals for advice on making my own charcuterie, I determined that seasoning formulas and recipes for preserving meats are protected like family heirlooms.
Berkeley transplant Kit Phelps was different. One January day she breezed into my kitchen with her long braid swinging and her notebook recording years of sausage-making projects wide open. Kit had just sold the herd she’d spent the past 30 years raising with her husband Kim. The sale was recent enough that she talked about her cows with the same affection she spoke of her two grown children. This was the first January that she didn’t have to feed cattle every morning, and she was celebrating by spending the gray winter days with me. We conducted delicious experiments with fresh, dried, and cooked sausages, jerkies, and other meaty delights.
Charcuterie, I’ve learned, is very procedural. As with canning, the best results come from adhering to proven methods, staying organized, and practicing excellent food sanitation. For this reason, Kit’s experience was as valuable as her recipes, and she shared tips I’d never have learned in a book. One of the first things she told me about seasoning sausage meat was, “The salt intensifies and the spices recede.” To achieve the best distribution, we puréed all of the seasonings with water in a blender, and Kit mixed each batch of ground meat and fat by hand, adding enough moisture so that the meat became sticky. Kit used a squeeze test: when a fistful of meat could squish through the gaps in her fingers, it was well mixed.
Before storing or stuffing, we always tasted—by frying up a mini-burger—to make sure the flavors were quite pronounced, balanced, and pleasing. Practice, more than any particular skill, was what mattered most. Each day we produced a variety of meats worthy of a deli case to savor in the weeks and months ahead.
This chapter offers a host of easy, do-it-yourself recipes that require only bare-bones equipment. An introduction to the simple and practical methods for playing with meat, these recipes open up another realm of possibilities with beef—from breakfast sausage to lunch meat to trail snacks. It’s true that pork is the predominant ingredient in most charcuterie, and some of the recipes, such as Sage Breakfast Sausage (page 255) Garlic-Fennel Sausage (page 256) and Grassfed Beef Terrine (page 260), call for pork butt or pork fat. By and large, however, these recipes focus on beef and several are made with pure beef.
In aiming to make these recipes as accessible as possible, I created small-batch recipes generally requiring less than three pounds of meat apiece. For some, you don’t even need a meat grinder. The chapter includes sausages made with ground beef, such as Summer Sausage (page 254) and Peppered Hamburger Jerky (page 268) that is dried in the oven. Recipes that require curing salt, like Deli-Style Salami (page 258) and Pastrami (page 266), call for a brand sold in supermarkets nationwide.
There’s real satisfaction in practicing old-fashioned home economics that relies on the least expensive cuts to create ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat meats. It’s a whole new way to enjoy beef, albeit in moderation. It is also a fun project to do with a friend or family member. That extra set of hands is useful—whether it’s to turn off the water when you’re hand mixing the sausage meat or to stuff casings, should you choose to go that route. If there is a beef cut like bottom round roast languishing in the freezer that you wouldn’t cook for dinner—or if you find one on special at the store—it’s possible with a single day’s work to transform it into a delicacy you’ll treasure.
Making sausages and jerky is the butcher’s way of using up the bounty of trim left from breaking down whole animals. For the rest of us, it’s easy to find many tough, lean, and cheap cuts to put to excellent use for charcuterie. You may find that these preparations become your favorite way to use some of the least-appreciated beef cuts. Request pork fat from your butcher or see Sources, page 272.
BRISKET is the large, flat pectoral muscle sold whole or in “flat” or “point” halves. It has a coarse grain of muscle fibers and a cap of fat that makes it the top pick for brining and simmering for corned beef, or continuing the process and smoking to produce homemade pastrami.
BOTTOM ROUND, aka rump roast, is the very lean and boneless muscle from the round, or hindquarter. Because it’s fairly tough, bottom round is typically ground or cubed. However, this tasty cut deserves more credit since, provided you add fat, it can become a great sausage or terrine. It is also a good candidate for corned beef and yields larger slices than brisket. Finally, bottom round is a top choice for making beef jerky, since jerky meat should be lean to avoid spoilage.
CHUCK ROAST is the name for any shoulder cut with or without a bone. It naturally has a good amount of fat for grinding. On its own, ground chuck roast is great for homemade hamburgers, but grassfed generally requires some additional fat to make optimum sausage.
EYE ROUND is an extra-lean, boneless, and mild-flavored cut from the round that can be ground for sausage in combination with a sufficient amount of fat.
GROUND BEEF consists of grind from many other cuts. Since it’s already ground (twice), it gives you a leg-up on sausage making. A fat content of 25 to 30 percent is ideal, or extra-lean beef (15 percent or less) can be augmented with additional fat. The leanest (below 10 percent) is best for jerky.
SHORT PLATE is from the belly, a flat cut with stripes of meat and fat resembling bacon. It usually goes into the grind, but due to its ratio of fat to lean, it is also a valuable meat for sausage making.
SHORT RIBS are the meaty bones from the chuck, or shoulder, plate, and rib sections. English-style ribs are cut into roughly 4-inch lengths that come in four-bone sections (you can cut through the intercostal meat to make single-bone servings). Flanken or Korean-style are very thinly sliced short ribs (about ¼ inch). They have an ideal meat-to-fat ratio for sausage making, requiring no additional fat.
STEW MEAT is cut from the tougher cuts and can vary in the amount of fat and quality of trimming. Stew meat too fatty for braising can be put to good use when ground and used to make your own ground beef or sausage.
C. Belle Probert was one of the Wallowa County CowBelles, an association of ranchers’ wives that produced three cookbooks throughout the 1970s. Her summer sausage recipe is in every edition for good reason: it’s a rewarding illustration of the simplicity of sausage making: mix ground beef with seasonings, roll it in aluminum foil into a log, and bake. That’s all there is to making a ready-to-eat meat for a sandwich or a cheese and cracker tray.
Faithful to the original Chuck Wagon Cookbook, this recipe makes two sausages. I always make the whole batch because my family goes through it quickly. If you want to give it a try with just one pound of ground beef, divide this recipe in half.
Makes 2 sausages, about 8 inches long and 2 inches wide
2 TABLESPOONS MORTON’S TENDER QUICK CURING SALT
1 TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
1 TEASPOON ONION POWDER
1 TEASPOON GARLIC POWDER
1 TABLESPOON YELLOW MUSTARD SEEDS
2 TEASPOONS LIQUID SMOKE*, OPTIONAL
2 POUNDS GROUND BEEF, 75 TO 85 PERCENT LEAN
Dissolve the curing salt in 1 cup of cold water. Stir in the pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard seeds, and liquid smoke, if using. Put the ground beef into a large mixing bowl and pour the curing salt mixture over it. Knead the ground beef with your hands or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer until it absorbs all the liquid and feels sticky and soft. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours to develop the flavors. Longer than 12 hours, the meat can become overly salty from the curing salt.
Pull off a tablespoon-sized piece of the ground meat mixture and form it into a small patty ½ inch thick. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the patty for 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Let it cool slightly and taste it. Since it will be served cold you want the seasoning to be very forward and bold. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack. Divide the ground beef mixture into 2 pieces and shape each into a log around 2 inches thick and 8 inches long. Wrap each log tightly in aluminum foil and twist the ends to seal. Poke holes in the foil with a skewer so that the meat will drain as it cooks. Put the logs on the rack and bake until they are firm to the touch and an internal read thermometer registers 160°F, 1 to 1¼ hours. Cool and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator. To serve, unwrap it, and slice it into ½-inch-thick rounds and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
*NOTE: Liquid smoke is not an artificial flavoring but real smoke collected from water vapors condensed and aged for bottling in a liquid form. Filtered of tar and ash, it’s actually less carcinogenic than traditional meat smoking methods. Still, for reasons of good taste and health, liquid smoke is best used judiciously.
It was a happy accident that I planned a sausage-making extravaganza for January. It turns out this is when the hogs are butchered and ranchers have time on their hands for such endeavors. With a new batch of pork fat from a Carman Ranch heritage Tamworth hog, Kit Phelps and I made this beef and pork breakfast sausage. It’s based on a tried-and-true recipe from Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book. While you can roll this herbaceous meat into a log like the supermarket brands, I make small patties and freeze them with flattened cupcake liners in between each one. I can pry off the number of patties I need for a series of weekend breakfasts from the dead of winter all the way through the springtime thaw.
Makes about 3½ pounds bulk sausage
1¼ POUNDS BOTTOM ROUND ROAST, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
1½ POUNDS PORK BUTT, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
12 OUNCES PORK FAT, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
1 GARLIC CLOVE, PEELED
1 TABLESPOON KOSHER SALT
2 TEASPOONS GROUND SAGE
1 TEASPOON DRIED THYME
1 TEASPOON DRIED BASIL
1 TEASPOON RED PEPPER FLAKES
1 TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
1 TEASPOON GROUND GINGER
½ CUP FINELY CHOPPED ONION
½ CUP FINELY CHOPPED FRESH PARSLEY
Freeze the beef, pork, and fat for 20 minutes to get it very cold and make it easier to grind. Put the garlic, kosher salt, sage, thyme, basil, pepper flakes, pepper, and ginger into a blender or food processor with ¼ cup cold water and purée until smooth.
Set up a hand or electric meat grinder with the coarse plate (¼ to ⅜ inch) and grind the beef, pork, and fat together into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the garlic-herb mixture over the ground meat, add the onion and parsley, and knead it with your hands or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer until it is very sticky and velvety soft. If it needs more liquid, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the mixture squishes through your closed fist.
Pull off a tablespoon-sized piece of the ground meat mixture and form it into a small patty ½ inch thick. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the patty for 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Let it cool slightly, taste it, and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.
Form into individual sausage patties, about ½ inch thick and 3 inches wide. Alternatively, roll the sausage mix into 3-inch-wide logs for slicing. Refrigerate the sausage and use within 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Grilled with onions and peppers, sliced and tossed with pasta, or crumbed into minestrone soup, Italian sausage packs a powerhouse of garlic, herbs, and savoriness into some of my favorite meals. I used to buy it, but this fresh sausage is a snap to make and keep in the freezer, at the ready whenever I need a last-minute dinner.
This all-beef sausage is an adaptation of one Kit swears is the very best from Bruce Aidells’s Complete Sausage Book, and she’s tried them all. We upped the garlic and used the fennel seeds two ways—half crushed into the mix and half left whole for a wonderful hit of mild anise that makes this sausage unique. I like to stuff this into casings to make links (natural have the best texture and are easier to work with than collagen casings), but you can use it ground or form it into patties for immediate use or freezer storage.
Makes about 4 pounds bulk sausage or 20 5-inch sausage links
3 POUNDS BOTTOM ROUND ROAST, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
1 POUND PORK FAT, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
½ CUP DRY RED WINE
4 GARLIC CLOVES, PEELED
2 TABLESPOONS FENNEL SEEDS, DIVIDED
1 TABLESPOON RED PEPPER FLAKES
4 TEASPOONS KOSHER SALT
1 TEASPOON CRUSHED OREGANO
⅛ TEASPOON GROUND ALLSPICE
MEDIUM HOG CASINGS, SOAKED IN WARM WATER FOR 30 MINUTES, OPTIONAL (Sources, page 272)
Freeze the beef and fat for 20 minutes to get it very cold and make it easier to grind. Put the wine, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, salt, oregano, and allspice into a blender or food processor and purée until fairly smooth. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds to the wine mixture and set it aside.
Set up a hand or electric meat grinder with the coarse plate (¼ to ⅜ inch) and grind the beef and fat together into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the wine mixture over the ground beef and knead it with your hands or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer until it is sticky and velvety soft. If it needs more liquid, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the mixture squishes through your closed fist. Chill the ground beef mixture for 1 to 3 hours to develop the flavors.
Pull off a tablespoon-sized piece of the ground meat mixture and form it into a small patty ½ inch thick. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the patty for 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Let it cool slightly, taste it, and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.
For bulk sausage, divide the mixture and package it into resealable plastic bags or shape it into logs and wrap in plastic wrap. To make links, attach the stuffer spout to the grinder. Rinse the casing and thread it onto the spout, leaving about 6 inches hanging off the end. Keep this end open as you start stuffing and when the sausage comes out the spout expelling all the air, tie it in a knot. Continue stuffing, twisting the links every 5 inches in alternating directions to make about 20, and tie a knot in the end of the last link. (There will be some sausage left in the stuffer, which you can use to make a patty.) Line a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack and lay the links on the rack so that they are not touching. Dry the sausages in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours, then store them in resealable plastic bags. Refrigerate this fresh sausage for 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
MORE CHOICE CUTS: Eye round, if you’re not partial to it as a roast, is an extra-lean beef good for sausage in combination with added fat. |
Dense and meaty, this cooked salami makes a peppery ready-to-eat treat when sliced for hors d’oeuvres or deli-style sandwiches. The recipe originates from Armandino Batali, who is a master of meat curing and father to celebrity chef Mario. I converted it to produce a pure beef version with short ribs that were a bit too fatty for braising. The fat-to-lean balance turned out to be ideal for this style of salami, but if you don’t have short ribs on hand (they are spendy to purchase), choose one of the alternative suggested cuts.
Once ground and seasoned, the mix gets stuffed into a fibrous casing, which looks like a translucent sock. Tough enough to be packed tight, it is lined with protein that causes the casing to shrink with the meat as it cooks in simmering water; this is a synthetic casing you peel off before eating. Curing salts help to keep the salami for three weeks refrigerated, a fact I’m thankful for anytime I’m in need of a pre-dinner nibble with a glass of red wine.
Makes 2 6-inch salami
2½ POUNDS SHORT RIB MEAT, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
2 TABLESPOONS MORTON TENDER QUICK CURING SALT
2½ TEASPOONS GROUND NUTMEG
2 TEASPOONS NONFAT DRY MILK
1¾ TEASPOONS GROUND WHITE PEPPER
1½ TEASPOONS WHOLE BLACK PEPPERCORNS
1 FIBROUS CASING, ABOUT 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND 2 FEET LONG, SOAKED IN WARM WATER FOR 30 MINUTES (Sources, page 272)
Freeze the beef for 20 minutes to get it very cold and make it easier to grind. Dissolve the curing salt in ¼ cup water in a small dish. Add the nutmeg, dry milk, white pepper, and peppercorns and stir to blend it well. Set the mixture aside.
Set up a hand or electric meat grinder with the coarse plate (¼ to ⅜ inch) and grind the beef into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the curing salt mixture over the ground beef and knead the mixture with your hands or the paddle attachment in a stand mixer until it is very well blended and tacky to the touch.
To stuff the casing, tie one end securely with butcher’s twine and turn the open end inside out like a sock. Use your hands to put a few fistfuls of the ground meat into the casing. Squeeze and twist the casing to compact the filling tightly into the end. To eliminate air pockets, insert a chopstick into any air spaces, then squeeze and twist the casing once more. Continue packing the sausage until it is about 6 inches long. Make sure that two will fit into your largest pot for cooking later. Twist the open end and tie it tightly with butcher’s twine. Repeat with the remaining ground meat mixture to make another salami. Prick the casings in 5 or 6 places with a skewer to allow air to escape during cooking. Refrigerate the sausages for 3 to 4 hours to develop the flavors.
Put the salami in a large pot, cover them with water, and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Adjust the heat to maintain a low simmer and cook until an internal read thermometer registers 175°F, about 45 minutes. Cool and refrigerate until well chilled. Store in the refrigerator for 3 weeks, keeping the cut end well wrapped, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
MORE CHOICE CUTS: Short plate, trimmed of the thick band of exterior fat (page 51) still has ample fat and no bones to cut around for grinding. Chuck roast can be supplemented with pork fat (a 2-pound untrimmed boneless chuck roast plus ½-pound pork fat) to produce a satisfying salami. |
Terrines make me think of France and outdoor lunches with baguettes and tiny pickles. As a result, creating a terrine for this book became a bit of an obsession. Like a pâté de campagne but made with beef, this recipe makes one loaf of finely ground meat and pork fat that’s highly seasoned with spirits and spices. The garnishes of currants and pistachios add sweetness and texture, and keep it interesting from the first bite to the last.
Essentially, a terrine is a sausage baked into a loaf. The best sources for those made with extra-lean meats like grassfed come from game books. I modeled this streamlined recipe after many sources, but I credit Michael Ruhlman’s recipe for game terrine in Charcuterie with helping me comprehend the basic method. It starts like the other sausage recipes in this chapter, a simple mechanical process of grinding and mixing. But, it adds steps of marinating the meat, reducing the marinade, and adding heavy cream before baking in a slow oven and chilling it overnight. For me, having a terrine on hand is occasion enough to host a cocktail party. So sumptuous in taste, it doesn’t need a condiment or sauce, only something crunchy like Crackerbreads (recipe follows) to serve with thick slices of your homemade terrine.
Makes 1 (9 x 5-inch) terrine
1 POUND BEEF BOTTOM ROUND ROAST, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
12 OUNCES PORK FAT, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
1 CUP FORTIFIED WINE, SUCH AS MADEIRA, MARSALA, OR SHERRY
¾ TEASPOON GROUND ALLSPICE
¾ TEASPOON GROUND CORIANDER
½ TEASPOON GROUND GINGER
¼ TEASPOON GROUND NUTMEG
1 TABLESPOON PLUS 2 TEASPOONS MORTON TENDER QUICK CURING SALT
2 TEASPOONS BLACK PEPPER
½ CUP CURRANTS
½ CUP BRANDY
1 TABLESPOON UNSALTED BUTTER
3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED
1 SHALLOT, FINELY CHOPPED
½ CUP HEAVY CREAM
½ CUP PISTACHIOS
Combine the beef, fat, fortified wine, allspice, coriander, ginger, nutmeg, curing salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl and stir to blend well. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours. Put the currants in a small bowl, cover them with the brandy, and let them plump at room temperature while the meat marinates.
Drain the meat mixture through a large strainer, reserving the spirits. Drain the currants and add the brandy to the reserved spirits. Set the currants aside.
Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until they turn translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the reserved spirits and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook, skimming as necessary, until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator.
Grind the meat mixture through the fine plate (⅛ to ¼ inch) two times to blend the meat and fat and achieve a uniform texture. Add the reduced chilled spirits and the cream and stir until well blended. Fold in the reserved currants and the pistachios. Test the seasoning by cooking a tablespoon of the filling in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.
Preheat the oven to 300°F and bring a teakettle of water to a boil. Line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with a dampened length of parchment paper to overhang the sides by about 6 inches. Spoon the meat mixture into the loaf pan, smooth the top, and rap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Fold the parchment paper over to cover the meat mixture and seal the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Set the loaf pan into a larger roasting pan and put it on the oven rack. Fill the roasting pan with enough boiling water so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake the terrine until an instant-read thermometer registers 150°F when inserted into the center, 1¼ to 1½ hours.
Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and lift out the loaf pan. Refrigerate it for 8 hours or overnight to chill it thoroughly. Unwrap the terrine. There will be a veneer of white fat all over the surface. Run a paring knife around the edge of the pan and use the overhanging parchment paper wrap as handles to lift it from the loaf pan. Slice the terrine into ½-inch-thick slices with a serrated knife and serve with the Crackerbreads, if desired.
Mixed in a single bowl, rolled, and hand-cut, these homemade crackers are simple to make, very crunchy, and keep for about five days.
Makes about 3½ dozen crackers
1½ CUPS (6¾ OUNCES) ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
½ CUP (2¼ OUNCES) WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR
1 TEASPOON SALT
3 TABLESPOONS EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
¾ TEASPOON KOSHER SALT, OPTIONAL
Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Fill a small bowl with water and set it aside with a pastry brush.
In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, and salt. Add the olive oil and ½ cup of water to the flour and stir with a rubber spatula until it collects into a soft, crumbly ball of dough. Use the spatula or your hands to press the dough against the sides of the bowl to gather all the stray flour.
Set the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into a very thin rectangle about 
inch thick. Whenever you feel resistance, lift up one edge of the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath before you continue rolling it into a thin sheet.
Use a pastry brush to dampen the dough lightly with water and sprinkle on the salt, if using. With a dough scraper, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, cut the dough in half lengthwise and then cut across to make rectangles roughly 2 x 4 inches. Don’t bother trimming the edges; rustic edges give the crackerbreads character.
Transfer the crackerbreads to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until nicely and unevenly browned and bubbled, about 10 minutes. Cool the crackerbreads on a wire rack and store them in a resealable plastic bag.
Ranchers Kit and Kim Phelps have fine-tuned this saucy Mexican-style sausage over the past twenty years. Scaled down from the two-hundred-pound batches they make with a crew of friends, this recipe blends beef, bacon, and a generous but not excessive amount of chipotle chile powder. For a milder version, substitute ancho chile powder. If you make links, use it in Brazilian Beef Shanks with Chorizo (page 246). Or store it in bulk to try in place of ground beef in Tortilla Soup (page 240) or cooked and scrambled with eggs for killer breakfast burritos.
Makes about 2½ pounds bulk sausage or 16 4-inch links
2½ POUNDS BOTTOM ROUND ROAST, CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES
4 OUNCES BACON (ABOUT 3 STRIPS), CUT INTO 1-INCH PIECES
5 GARLIC CLOVES, PEELED
1 TABLESPOON KOSHER SALT
2½ TABLESPOONS RED WINE VINEGAR
2 TABLESPOONS CHIPOTLE OR ANCHO CHILE POWDER
1 TEASPOON CRUSHED DRIED OREGANO
1 TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
1 TEASPOON RED PEPPER FLAKES
½ TEASPOON GROUND CUMIN
MEDIUM HOG CASINGS, SOAKED IN WARM WATER FOR 30 MINUTES, OPTIONAL (Sources, page 272)
Freeze the beef and bacon for 20 minutes to get them very cold and make them easier to grind. Put the garlic, kosher salt, vinegar, chile powder, oregano, pepper, pepper flakes, and cumin in a blender or food processor with ¼ cup cold water and purée until smooth.
Set up a hand or electric meat grinder with the coarse plate (¼ to ⅜ inch) and grind the beef and bacon together into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the ground beef and knead it with your hands or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer until it is sticky and velvety soft. If it needs more liquid, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it squishes through your closed fist. Chill the ground meat mixture for 1 to 3 hours to develop the flavors.
Pull off a tablespoon-sized piece of the ground meat mixture and form it into a small patty ½ inch thick. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the patty for 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Let it cool slightly, taste it, and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.
For bulk sausage, divide the beef mixture and package it into resealable plastic bags. To make links, attach the stuffer spout to the grinder. Rinse the casing and thread it onto the spout, leaving about 6 inches hanging off the end. Keep this end open as you start stuffing, and when the sausage comes out the spout expelling all the air, tie it in a knot. Continue stuffing, twisting the links in alternating directions every 4 inches to make about 16, and tie a knot in the end of the last link. (There will be some sausage left in the stuffer, which you can use to make a patty.) Line a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack and lay the links on the rack so that they are not touching. Dry the sausages in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours, then store them in resealable plastic bags. Refrigerate this fresh sausage for 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
I was intimidated about making my own corned beef until I understood that it was just a matter of soaking meat in salt and then simmering it until tender. What could be easier? Most of the “work” involves waiting four or five days for the beef to cure in the refrigerator, then waiting again while it simmers very slowly. I know the meat is tender when I can plunge a skewer through it without resistance. It’s also fine to cut off a slice and taste it to make sure it’s as tender as you want it.
This particular corned beef is brown, not pink, because there’s no curing salt. There’s no point since it’ll get eaten up in grilled Reubens for dinner and corned beef hash with poached eggs for brunch. It’s also fantastic cold on dark rye with Whole-Grain Mustard (page 234).
Brisket is the classic corned beef cut, and deservedly so, but I’ve corned several other cuts that are also worth the investment of time. The hard-to-use bottom round roast, aka rump roast, in this recipe, in particular, is remarkably good and lean. For a complete dinner, serve it with sauerkraut and boiled new potatoes.
Makes 6 servings with leftovers
½ CUP KOSHER SALT
¼ CUP SUGAR
3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED
2 TABLESPOONS PICKLING SPICES
3 BAY LEAVES, CRUMBLED
1 TABLESPOON CRACKED BLACK PEPPER
1 (3½- TO 4-POUND) BOTTOM ROUND ROAST
2 MEDIUM ONIONS, PEELED AND QUARTERED
4 MEDIUM CARROTS, PEELED AND CUT INTO 2-INCH-LONG ROUNDS
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat in a small saucepan. Remove it from the heat, add the kosher salt and sugar, and stir until they dissolve. Pour the salt mixture into a 4-quart or larger glass, ceramic, or plastic container. Add 4 cups ice-cold water along with the garlic, pickling spices, bay leaves, and black pepper. Add 1 cup ice cubes and stir to chill the brine rapidly or put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Pierce the beef all over with a wooden skewer to help the brine penetrate, submerge the beef into the brine, and refrigerate for 4 to 5 days.
Drain the beef along with the garlic and spices in a large strainer and rinse it briefly in cool running water, reserving the garlic and spices. Discard the brine. Put the beef in a pot that fits it snuggly and fill the pot with cool water to cover the beef by 1 inch. Add the reserved garlic and spices.
Bring the water to a boil over medium heat then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, partially covered. After about 2½ hours, add the onions and carrots, and continue to simmer until a skewer slides in and out of the beef with ease, 3 to 3½ hours total.
Serve the corned beef warm in thick slices moistened with some of the cooking liquid and with the vegetables on the side. To store, transfer the corned beef into a container, add enough cooking liquid to cover it, and refrigerate it for up to 4 days.
VARIATION: MUSTARD-GLAZED
CORNED BEEF
Slather the top of the fully cooked corned beef with Whole-Grain Mustard (page 234) or Fruit Mustard (page 234) and bake it in a roasting pan uncovered in a 275°F oven until heated through, about 1 hour.
MORE CHOICE CUTS: Brisket is the classic corned beef cut and you can’t go wrong with this tried-and-true favorite. Tongue is another very inexpensive and traditional choice, which brines wonderfully. Be sure to simmer it until you can easily slide a wooden skewer in and out of the meat. Peel the skin off while it’s still warm, before slicing or chilling. Serve it as a hot corned beef sandwich with Herb Aïoli (page 187) or Whole-Grain Mustard (page 234). |
Far from the East Coast Jewish delis of my youth, it’s hard to come by a hot pastrami sandwich. So, I relished even my first attempt at this salt-cured, smoked, and steamed delight. A homemade pastrami sandwich with melted provolone on a toasted Whole-Wheat Bun (page 72) with Whole-Grain Mustard (page 234) is worth waiting for—even, as in my case, about twenty years. And wait one must, through nearly a week of salt-curing and an eight-hour day of cooking, but oh, that bite of salty, juicy meat brings everything into focus.
Mind you, pastrami made with grassfed beef is firmer and somewhat chewy, with a prominent beefiness. Like its corned beef cousin, pastrami is routinely made from brisket. Choose the squared-off flat end if you prefer it leaner or the point end for more fat. I’ve streamlined the curing method by applying a dry rub in place of a brine, which is less cumbersome and doesn’t need to be rinsed before the smoking begins. (However, if you prefer less salty pastrami, give it a quick rinse under cool running water.)
I purchased an Oregon-made Traeger grill-smoker, fueled with wood pellets, long before I did much curing and smoking. I can hot-smoke at the flick of a switch. Other smokers, like the Little Chief, also take most of the work out of smoking. You can also smoke meat using a standard gas grill fitted with a smoke pan or charcoal grill using low heat, but you’ll need to feed it frequently with handfuls of wood chips and briquettes and monitor the temperature closely. No matter which equipment you use, the fact is that pastrami-making takes time and attention—all well spent. Enjoy it on sandwiches and offer it as an appetizer, thinly sliced with pickles and mustard (page 234).
Makes 6 servings with leftovers
3 BAY LEAVES, CRUMBLED
1 TABLESPOON WHOLE CORIANDER, TOASTED*
1 TEASPOON WHOLE JUNIPER BERRIES
1 TEASPOON WHOLE PEPPERCORNS
3 TABLESPOONS MORTON’S TENDER QUICK CURING SALT
2 TABLESPOONS PACKED LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
1 (3½- TO 4-POUND) BRISKET, POINT OR FLAT CUT
Crush the bay leaves, coriander, juniper berries, and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or with a few pulses of a spice grinder until coarsely ground. Put the spice mixture in a small bowl, add the curing salt and brown sugar, and stir until it is well blended. Rub the spice mixture evenly all over the beef. Put the beef in a resealable plastic bag and put the bag in a dish or container to catch any drips. Cure in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Prepare a smoker for hot-smoking (200° to 225°F). Alternatively, prepare a charcoal grill for low indirect heat or a gas grill fitted with a smoker box and a drip pan filled with 2 inches of water underneath the grate opposite the heat source. If using wood chips, soak them for about 15 minutes. Scrape the grate clean and oil it lightly before placing the brisket on the coolest part of the grill with the fat cap side up. Close the lid and smoke for at least 4 hours and up to 8 hours to achieve a smokier flavor.
Preheat the oven to 275°F. Choose a roasting pan with a rack slightly larger than the meat. (If you don’t have a rack that fits, roughly chop 1 onion and scatter it around the pan to rest the meat on it.) Add about 1 inch of water to the bottom of the pan, transfer the meat to the rack, and cover the whole pan tightly with aluminum foil. Steam the meat for 3 to 4 hours more until it pulls apart readily with a fork and the internal temperature reaches 190° to 200°F.
Let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes before unwrapping and slicing against the grain to serve hot. Or, chill it in the refrigerator well-wrapped, and serve it cold.
NOTE: To toast the coriander seeds, heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds and keep a watchful eye on them so they don’t burn. Cook, swirling the pan over the burner occasionally to turn the seeds, until they smell fragrant and darken in color, about 7 minutes.
MORE CHOICE CUTS: Short plate is from the belly and looks like bacon, only with a red meat color. It has layers of fat, which will please those who expect it as part of their pastrami experience. Chuck roasts, such as boneless pot roast and cross-rib roast, are smaller cuts that also make great pastrami. For a 1½- to 2-pound chuck roast, cut the curing mixture in half and cure for just 3 to 4 days before smoking and steaming as directed. |
Since ground beef is the most versatile meat cut there is, I should not have been surprised to discover that it can also be dried. Still, it felt like a big a-ha to me when a loyal customer to Carman Ranch shared the concept. Ground beef does the best job of absorbing the flavors of whatever you mix into it, and there is a lifetime of seasoning combinations to try. I decided go the classic route with a riveting pepper-flavored jerky. Remember that you want the seasoning to be prominent because it diminishes once it’s dried.
As with all jerky, it’s best to start with very lean beef for the best keeping qualities. Many old-timers dry their beef in the open air or in food dehydrators. I’ve adopted an oven method used by Phil Greif of PD Farms, a family grassfed ranch and organic vegetable farm, who makes forty pounds a month. Once the beef cooks and dries within a few hours, I slice it into strips and store batches in the refrigerator—just to be on the safe side—for up to three months.
Makes about 1½ pounds jerky strips
2 POUNDS GROUND BEEF, 90 TO 95 PERCENT LEAN
2 TEASPOONS WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
2 TEASPOONS KOSHER SALT
1½ TEASPOONS CHILE POWDER, SUCH AS CHIPOTLE OR ALEPPO
1 TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
½ TEASPOON GARLIC POWDER
2 TEASPOONS LIQUID SMOKE (NOTE, PAGE 254), OPTIONAL
Mix the ground beef with the Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, chile powder, pepper, garlic powder, and liquid smoke, if using, in a food processor until well blended and fairly smooth. Make a tablespoonsized patty, fry it for a taste, and adjust the seasonings if you’d like it very spicy or extra peppery.
Preheat the oven to 200°F with 2 oven racks in the center of the oven. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil and fit them with 2 lightly oiled wire racks. Set them aside.
Pull out about an 18-inch-long strip of plastic wrap or wax paper and put it on the counter. Put half of the ground beef mixture on it. Oil a rolling pin and roll the ground beef to an even ¼-inch thickness. Flip the ground beef onto one of the racks and peel off the plastic or paper. Repeat with the remaining ground beef on a fresh sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper and flip it onto the second rack.
Bake the jerky for 1 hour. Rotate the baking sheets and lower the heat to 175°F. Continue baking until the beef is darkened to nearly black on the edges, dry to the touch, and pliable, 3 to 3½ hours more. Cut the jerky into strips about 1 inch wide and 4 inches long and cool. Store it in resealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 3 months and in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Coca-Cola has a secret ingredient that is an effective meat tenderizer (phosphoric acid) plus a caramel sweetness that tastes great with beef (think burger and a Coke). Used as the marinade for beef jerky, Coke makes the tough bottom round nicely chewy with a sweetness akin to teriyaki. Jerky making is the one occasion when you want to slice the meat with the grain for the best texture once dried.
Makes about 1 pound jerky strips
1 (1½- TO 2-POUND) BOTTOM ROUND ROAST
1½ CUPS COCA-COLA
1 CUP SOY SAUCE
1 TABLESPOON CHINESE FIVE SPICE POWDER
1 TABLESPOON GROUND GINGER
¼ TEASPOON CAYENNE
Freeze the meat until it is very firm, about 30 minutes. Slice the beef with the grain into strips as thin as you can (go for ⅛ inch), 1 inch wide and as long as you like.
Whisk the Coca-Cola, soy sauce, Chinese five-spice powder, ginger, and cayenne together in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add the beef strips and stir to coat them well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours. Longer, and the meat starts to get too soft.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Lightly oil 2 wire racks and set them into 2 rimmed baking sheets lined with aluminum foil to ease clean up. Drain the beef in a colander, discarding the marinade, and let it drip dry for a few minutes. Arrange the beef on the racks in a single layer so that they are not touching. Dry the beef in the oven until it is black-brown, dry to the touch, and stiff but pliable, 3½ to 4 hours. Alternately, dry the meat in an electric food dehydrator according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store the jerky in resealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 3 months and in the freezer for up to 6 months.